Working with Schools and Colleges
Our pioneering project with schools is growing all the time.
Our work in schools has been developed to raise awareness of hospice care and to encourage children and young people to be able to explore feelings of grief and loss. Everybody experiences loss and change in their lives, for instance leaving nursery and joining primary school, moving house or the loss of a friendship. Early experiences of loss often inform later experiences.
We offer free bereavement training to staff to help them develop or amend their Bereavement Policy. The training aims to help staff to feel comfortable when talking about death and dying and will help to put in place procedures when a death affects a pupil, the whole school or a staff member.
Our free bereavement training will help you to develop or amend your Bereavement Policy.
We offer practical tips for use in the classroom and help to explore ways of talking to children and young people about death and dying.
Comments: "I hope all schools get this. It is very useful to receive training on a subject which can be dealt with in so many different ways and understanding - this is ok. There’s no ‘normal’ way."
Primary Schools
A complete range of assemblies are on offer for Primary Schools:-
Introduction to Hospice care - meet Harvey the Bear.
Exploring feelings when a pet dies - Splodge the Rabbit.
Exploring feelings when a grandparent dies - The Memory Tree.
Each gentle assembly introduces different experiences with Harvey the Bear a mascot throughout.
Comments: "It has been an inspiring day and the children liked seeing the Peace Hospice representatives again, they are really becoming familiar faces."
Senior Schools/Colleges
A complete range of assemblies are on offer for Senior Schools/Colleges:-
General introduction to Hospice care - This may be alongside a fundraiser promoting a fundraising event.
Hospice care and our work with children.
Palliative and end of life care.
Presentations for ‘Young Philanthropy'.
Presentations to Business students - Looking at ways we could improve the turnover in our shops.
Active Citizenship - A day where students explored different parts of the charity. Thinking about how we work with children who have been bereaved, developing a young people's website and designing a fundraising event.
Comments: "I feel happy that I have more knowledge of what the Hospice is all about. Massive well done to those involved in funding the charity I didn’t really know anything about this sort of thing in the aspect of how much support goes on in a hospice so it gave me a really good insight as to what is available for people in that situation."
Additional Presentations can be arranged for any groups of young people and these can be tailor made to meet their requirements.
Drama workshops around the book ‘Badgers Parting gifts.’
Children explore feelings around grief and loss. Creating a play to show to their school. The drama explores issues like ‘what is a gift?’, ‘How do we remember someone?’
Journey to Mexico - 'Day of the Dead' explores other cultures and takes you on a journey to Mexico through a story and creative activities.
We feel strongly about increasing the links with local community and encouraging children and young people to visit the hospice. Local Primary children visit the Hospice Day Care setting to sing songs and join our patients for a craft activity. Children visit the hospice to take part in art workshops around memory gathering. Young people can visit the Hospice through a Taster Day which gives them a chance to meet members of our team. The visit can include a visit to our Inpatient Unit and meeting our Day Care patients. The Taster Day can be tailor made to your needs and the young people’s interests.
Comments: "I really enjoyed visiting the day care and learning more about the Peace Hospice and what I can do to help."
In November last year a group of West Herts students studying Health and Social Care attended a Taster Day at the Hospice. The day gave them an overview of the services we provide at the Hospice and in the community. The students visited the Inpatient Unit and spent the afternoon in Day Care.
Since then some of the young ambassadors have helped at fundraising events and shadowed a volunteer in our Inpatient Unit. The West Herts students have been encouraging fundraising at the college through collections for our shops and will be fundraising for us at their Fair.
Recently they came along to Queens School to talk about The Starlight Walk and how valuable it has been for them to be Young Friends. Having young people explain to other young people the value of becoming involved in charity work was inspirational . This opportunity provided Teisha Hall and Laura Smith with an opportunity to overcome fears about public speaking…well done!
The Peace Hospice actively promoted ‘Dying Matters Awareness Week’ at the Hospice and within local schools and care homes across South West Hertfordshire. The Peace Hospice which provides care to people with a life limiting illness has been encouraging people to talk openly about what’s important in their life before they die. The theme of the week ‘Small actions, big difference’ has been the focus of Hospice staff working in various ways in the community.
Peace Hospice Chief Executive, Sue Plummer, told us ‘It is so important for people to accept that dying is a normal part of life. Letting your loved ones know your wishes regarding the end of your life is something we should all be doing. Your family need to know where you want to die and what your funeral wishes are. It can make the future easier for loved ones to know that they were able to do what you wanted.’
Hospice End of Life Care Facilitator, Jo Loney who held a training day at the Chase Care Home in Watford as part of the week said ‘We are already working regularly with care homes. Staff attended an additional training and networking day to help them feel more confident about the end of life care that they give to their residents. ’ She added ‘Through small actions care home staff can make a big difference to their residents end of life care. Today we have symbolised this through the planting of a sunflower seed – a small action which can lead to wonderful results!’
Local schools across Hertfordshire also took part in Dying Matters Awareness Week. Pupils from Laurence Haines Primary and Nursery School visited the Peace Hospice on Wednesday, where they spent time with Hospice staff preparing creative art projects symbolising a loved person that they know or knew using posters, collage and poetry.
Hospice School and Colleges Co-ordinator Allison Tromans-Nunes said ‘It’s been a fantastic week and great to see so many children enthusiastically taking part. Everybody experiences loss and change in their lives, which could come about through leaving nursery and joining primary school, moving house or the loss of a friendship'.
She added ‘Lots of children have been visiting the Hospice and have visited a local care home this week. Senior aged pupils have visited and taken part on a photography project about euphemisms adults tell children about death and how these could be misunderstood – they have made mix media images representing things like "I lost granddad last year". Exploring memories together and encouraging people to speak clearly to children about death and dying is our small action which will make a big difference to the children and young people in our community. It has been exciting and a lot of fun'.
Laurence Haines teacher, Mrs Butler who brought pupils from year 3 and 4 to the Hospice as part of Dying Matters Awareness Week said ‘Our school has been working with the Hospice very closely for sometime now. It’s important that children learn how to deal with their emotions and those children that have unfortunately had to suffer loss early in life are then able to move forward'.
She added ‘It’s very difficult for the parents as well because sometimes they don’t know how to talk to their children when they’ve lost someone close and hopefully a day like this will cause positive conversation after the children have got home when they talk about what they’ve been doing today. The Hospice has really helped our children to talk about those issues in a very good way. The support from the Hospice has been fantastic'.
For more information on the work of the Peace Hospice call 01923 330330.
To go to the Dying Matters website click here or to view the latest story on the Hertfordshire NHS website click here
Our pioneering project with schools is growing all the time.
Our work in schools has been developed to raise awareness of hospice care and to encourage children and young people to be able to explore feelings of grief and loss. Everybody experiences loss and change in their lives, for instance leaving nursery and joining primary school, moving house or the loss of a friendship. Early experiences of loss often inform later experiences.
We offer free bereavement training to staff to help them develop or amend their Bereavement Policy. The training aims to help staff to feel comfortable when talking about death and dying and will help to put in place procedures when a death affects a pupil, the whole school or a staff member.
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Our free bereavement training will help you to develop or amend your Bereavement Policy.We offer practical tips for use in the classroom and help to explore ways of talking to children and young people about death and dying.
Comments: "I hope all schools get this. It is very useful to receive training on a subject which can be dealt with in so many different ways and understanding - this is ok. There’s no ‘normal’ way."
Primary Schools
A complete range of assemblies are on offer for Primary Schools:-
Introduction to Hospice care - meet Harvey the Bear.Exploring feelings when a pet dies - Splodge the Rabbit.
Exploring feelings when a grandparent dies - The Memory Tree.
Each gentle assembly introduces different experiences with Harvey the Bear a mascot throughout.
Comments: "It has been an inspiring day and the children liked seeing the Peace Hospice representatives again, they are really becoming familiar faces."
Senior Schools/Colleges
A complete range of assemblies are on offer for Senior Schools/Colleges:-
General introduction to Hospice care - This may be alongside a fundraiser promoting a fundraising event.
Hospice care and our work with children.
Palliative and end of life care.
Presentations for ‘Young Philanthropy'.
Presentations to Business students - Looking at ways we could improve the turnover in our shops.
Active Citizenship - A day where students explored different parts of the charity. Thinking about how we work with children who have been bereaved, developing a young people's website and designing a fundraising event.
Comments: "I feel happy that I have more knowledge of what the Hospice is all about. Massive well done to those involved in funding the charity I didn’t really know anything about this sort of thing in the aspect of how much support goes on in a hospice so it gave me a really good insight as to what is available for people in that situation."
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|
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Additional Presentations can be arranged for any groups of young people and these can be tailor made to meet their requirements.
Drama workshops around the book ‘Badgers Parting gifts.’
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sometimes a school or class may have specific issues around death and dying that need a special sort of workshop. We can look at the issues together and create workshops around this.
We feel strongly about increasing the links with local community and encouraging children and young people to visit the hospice. Local Primary children visit the Hospice Day Care setting to sing songs and join our patients for a craft activity. Children visit the hospice to take part in art workshops around memory gathering. Young people can visit the Hospice through a Taster Day which gives them a chance to meet members of our team. The visit can include a visit to our Inpatient Unit and meeting our Day Care patients. The Taster Day can be tailor made to your needs and the young people’s interests.
Comments: "I really enjoyed visiting the day care and learning more about the Peace Hospice and what I can do to help."
Becoming a Young Friend of the Peace Hospice has so many benefits for a young person. The variety of fundraising events you can become involved in will help to develop skills needed for your future. Colleges, universities and the workplace are all looking for young people with experience and being a Young Friend can provide this.
Some schools run enrichment schemes and we can provide presentations and guidance for young people wanting to become involved in our charity.
The following article appeared in our recent Peace Hospice News publication.
‘Crazy charity lady’ is enjoying being a Young Friend.
Darcey Tromans from Abbots Langley became the first person to join the Peace Hospice’s Young Friends scheme when it launched last year.
Darcey, who is 16 years old and attends Kings Langley Secondary School, tells us 'I love being a Young Friend and it has given me so much confidence. I've carried out bucket shakes, been involved in a fashion show, helped as a marshall at a fitness event and shadowed the Hospice's Events Manager at the Strictly Come Hospice dance final which was brilliant'.
Darcy is studying for three A-levels in English literature, psychology and photography but says that's it's not enough to just do well in her subjects. She said 'Even if you get three A's uni's won't look at you these days if you haven't got anything else. Being a Young Friend is not only lots of fun but it has also helped with my university applications. Our school runs an Enrichment Scheme which encourages us to carry out volunteering in the community. I need to work 60 hours for my gold award – I’m already up to 49 hours with the Peace Hospice and the scheme only started in September!'
She added ‘My friends call me ‘crazy charity lady’ because I’m always going on to them about becoming a Hospice volunteer. I keep telling them that it’s different from what you expect. Since I’ve been a Young Friend I have learnt a lot more about the Peace Hospice and how they work with not just the patients, but their relatives too".
It’s frightening just how much money the Hospice has to raise each year. It’s great being a Young Friend, everyone’s really nice and it’s not a scary thing to do. You just have to be confident and throw yourself into it".
For more information on Young Friends contact Gill Crowson on 01923 335370 or email gcrowson@peacehospice.org.uk
Some schools run enrichment schemes and we can provide presentations and guidance for young people wanting to become involved in our charity.
The following article appeared in our recent Peace Hospice News publication.
‘Crazy charity lady’ is enjoying being a Young Friend. Darcey Tromans from Abbots Langley became the first person to join the Peace Hospice’s Young Friends scheme when it launched last year.
Darcey, who is 16 years old and attends Kings Langley Secondary School, tells us 'I love being a Young Friend and it has given me so much confidence. I've carried out bucket shakes, been involved in a fashion show, helped as a marshall at a fitness event and shadowed the Hospice's Events Manager at the Strictly Come Hospice dance final which was brilliant'.
Darcy is studying for three A-levels in English literature, psychology and photography but says that's it's not enough to just do well in her subjects. She said 'Even if you get three A's uni's won't look at you these days if you haven't got anything else. Being a Young Friend is not only lots of fun but it has also helped with my university applications. Our school runs an Enrichment Scheme which encourages us to carry out volunteering in the community. I need to work 60 hours for my gold award – I’m already up to 49 hours with the Peace Hospice and the scheme only started in September!'
She added ‘My friends call me ‘crazy charity lady’ because I’m always going on to them about becoming a Hospice volunteer. I keep telling them that it’s different from what you expect. Since I’ve been a Young Friend I have learnt a lot more about the Peace Hospice and how they work with not just the patients, but their relatives too".
It’s frightening just how much money the Hospice has to raise each year. It’s great being a Young Friend, everyone’s really nice and it’s not a scary thing to do. You just have to be confident and throw yourself into it".
For more information on Young Friends contact Gill Crowson on 01923 335370 or email gcrowson@peacehospice.org.uk
In November last year a group of West Herts students studying Health and Social Care attended a Taster Day at the Hospice. The day gave them an overview of the services we provide at the Hospice and in the community. The students visited the Inpatient Unit and spent the afternoon in Day Care.Since then some of the young ambassadors have helped at fundraising events and shadowed a volunteer in our Inpatient Unit. The West Herts students have been encouraging fundraising at the college through collections for our shops and will be fundraising for us at their Fair. Recently they came along to Queens School to talk about The Starlight Walk and how valuable it has been for them to be Young Friends. Having young people explain to other young people the value of becoming involved in charity work was inspirational . This opportunity provided Teisha Hall and Laura Smith with an opportunity to overcome fears about public speaking…well done!
‘Relive the love’ Fashion show at Clement Danes.
Last December students, teachers and support assistants all came together to put on an amazing event which was so much more than a fashion show.
The students from art master class worked for over six weeks revamping old clothes for the ‘Relive the love' theme.
Other students from parts of the school joined in the event which included dance, gym and singing. It was a wonderful show case for a talented school.
This event raised over two thousand pounds!
We can give groups of Young Friends guidance on running their special event for us.
Last December students, teachers and support assistants all came together to put on an amazing event which was so much more than a fashion show.The students from art master class worked for over six weeks revamping old clothes for the ‘Relive the love' theme.
Other students from parts of the school joined in the event which included dance, gym and singing. It was a wonderful show case for a talented school.
This event raised over two thousand pounds!
We can give groups of Young Friends guidance on running their special event for us.
The Peace Hospice actively promoted ‘Dying Matters Awareness Week’ at the Hospice and within local schools and care homes across South West Hertfordshire. The Peace Hospice which provides care to people with a life limiting illness has been encouraging people to talk openly about what’s important in their life before they die. The theme of the week ‘Small actions, big difference’ has been the focus of Hospice staff working in various ways in the community.Peace Hospice Chief Executive, Sue Plummer, told us ‘It is so important for people to accept that dying is a normal part of life. Letting your loved ones know your wishes regarding the end of your life is something we should all be doing. Your family need to know where you want to die and what your funeral wishes are. It can make the future easier for loved ones to know that they were able to do what you wanted.’
Hospice End of Life Care Facilitator, Jo Loney who held a training day at the Chase Care Home in Watford as part of the week said ‘We are already working regularly with care homes. Staff attended an additional training and networking day to help them feel more confident about the end of life care that they give to their residents. ’ She added ‘Through small actions care home staff can make a big difference to their residents end of life care. Today we have symbolised this through the planting of a sunflower seed – a small action which can lead to wonderful results!’
Local schools across Hertfordshire also took part in Dying Matters Awareness Week. Pupils from Laurence Haines Primary and Nursery School visited the Peace Hospice on Wednesday, where they spent time with Hospice staff preparing creative art projects symbolising a loved person that they know or knew using posters, collage and poetry.
Hospice School and Colleges Co-ordinator Allison Tromans-Nunes said ‘It’s been a fantastic week and great to see so many children enthusiastically taking part. Everybody experiences loss and change in their lives, which could come about through leaving nursery and joining primary school, moving house or the loss of a friendship'.
She added ‘Lots of children have been visiting the Hospice and have visited a local care home this week. Senior aged pupils have visited and taken part on a photography project about euphemisms adults tell children about death and how these could be misunderstood – they have made mix media images representing things like "I lost granddad last year". Exploring memories together and encouraging people to speak clearly to children about death and dying is our small action which will make a big difference to the children and young people in our community. It has been exciting and a lot of fun'.
Laurence Haines teacher, Mrs Butler who brought pupils from year 3 and 4 to the Hospice as part of Dying Matters Awareness Week said ‘Our school has been working with the Hospice very closely for sometime now. It’s important that children learn how to deal with their emotions and those children that have unfortunately had to suffer loss early in life are then able to move forward'.
She added ‘It’s very difficult for the parents as well because sometimes they don’t know how to talk to their children when they’ve lost someone close and hopefully a day like this will cause positive conversation after the children have got home when they talk about what they’ve been doing today. The Hospice has really helped our children to talk about those issues in a very good way. The support from the Hospice has been fantastic'.
For more information on the work of the Peace Hospice call 01923 330330.
To go to the Dying Matters website click here or to view the latest story on the Hertfordshire NHS website click here
Contact - Allison Tromans-Nunes
Schools and Colleges Co-ordinator - Peace Hospice
01923 330 330 ext 216 or by email
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